The people involved in running the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand - profiles our of our Patron, Keri Hulme, and the National Council - Lewis Holden, David Farrar, Jordan Carter, Savage, Dean Knight and Oliver Woods.

Patron

Keri Hulme has been the patron of the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand since 1996. Keri knows Aotearoa New Zealand will become a republic, but wants it to happen sooner, rather than later. She is a writer and fisher, born in 1947 of Kai Tahu descent.

Although Keri "doesn't go in for fishing competitions", her writing has won many national and international awards - most notably the 1985 Booker Prize for her novel The Bone People.

National Council

Lewis J Holden (Chair) has been involved with the Republican Movement since early 2004 and became the President (since renamed Chair) at the end of 2006, having been elected to the National Council in 2004.

Lewis believes New Zealand should become a republic because our status as a monarchy denies New Zealand's nationhood. He believes that a New Zealand head of State should be a proper check and balance on the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 

Lewis lives in Auckland and works in the IT industry.

David Farrar owns and manages a small polling and market research company, Curia Market Research. Prior to that he spent eight years in Parliament working for National Party Prime Ministers and Opposition Leaders from Bolger to Brash.

He believes in republicanism because he thinks New Zealand ought to have a head of State of its own, and that it is wrong that the Prime Minister can remove the Governor-General from office. 

David is currently the Chair of the Classical Liberals Policy Advisory Group of the National Party and runs the popular centre-right politics blog kiwiblog.co.nz.

Savage - (Common Cause liaison) - is an Auckland screenwriter. He was a founding member of the Republican Coalition in 1994 and served as the first President. He has been an active member on the national council for the last five years and is currently organising the Republican Movement's Writers Group. He has a MA (Film, TV and Media Studies) BA (Hons) in Politics and Philosophy. Savage was previously involved in the Electoral Reform Coalition during the MMP campaign in 1993 and the Auckland City Council STV campaign 2002 - 2003.

Jordan Carter is an Aucklander temporarily on location in Wellington. He has been involved in Labour politics for ten years, and works full time for an Internet NGO doing policy and lobbying work.

Born in Canada and raised in South Auckland, he has never quite understood why the countries he calls home have an English aristocrat as its head of State. He believes the monarchy's time has passed, and that New Zealand needs to decide a model for an indigenous republic, and adopt it. Jordan has his own blog called Just Left.

Oliver Woods (Membership organiser) has been involved in progressive politics for several years, including co-leading a small left-wing party during the 2008 elections. He is currently an Auckland-based postgraduate student and freelance social networking specialist. Oliver thinks New Zealand should become a republic because:

I personally believe we should become a republic from nationalist and cultural perspectives. I want New Zealand to be an independent republic with a head of state we choose ourselves. Culturally speaking, want to us to emphasise to the world that we no longer are the Britain of the South Pacific, and instead are a diverse nation that is radically different to the United Kingdom today. The British monarchy is simply no longer relevant to New Zealand, and I would be only too glad to be part of getting rid of this colonial hangover! I'm very proud to be getting more involved with the Republican Movement of New Zealand to fight for a politically and culturally independent nation.

Dean Knight (Constitutional adviser) is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) and an Associate Director of the New Zealand Centre for Public Law. Dean's teaching and research is in constitutional and administrative law, local government and the Rule of Law. As well as being a regular commentator on Radio New Zealand National on public law issues, Dean has a blog on contemporary legal issues: LAWS179: Elephants and the Law. Dean thinks New Zealand should become a republic because:

The Monarch has little, if any, practical influence in our country's constitutional and political affairs nowadays. The State's powers are exercised by our own public officer holders, led by the Governor-General. The notion of the Sovereign and the Crown is a fiction, an anachronistic symbol. And a symbol that is increasingly irrelevant to many New Zealanders - a holiday in June, twice-yearly honours, a Christmas message.